TOKYO, March 16 (Xinhua) -- The decision by Japan's notorious Yasukuni Shrine to appoint a former Maritime Self-Defense Force (SDF) commander as its chief priest is a violation of the Asian country's pacifist constitution, a Japanese historian said.
Former Vice Admiral Umio Otsuka, 63, will assume the post of the 14th priest, the highest-ranking position of the war-related Yasukuni Shrine, on April 1, Jiji Press reported citing the shrine's announcement on Friday.
It marks the first time a high-ranking ex-military official to assume the post, local media reports showed.
Ryuji Ishida, a researcher at the International Peace Research Institute of the Meiji Gakuin University, told Xinhua that such an appointment is a complete denial to the Tokyo War Crimes Trials.
"This blatant expression of affinity towards militarism completely disregards the heinous crimes committed during World War II and violates the fundamental principle of completely severing ties with militarism," said the historian.
It also goes against Japan's post-war political and religious separation principle by sabotaging Japan's pacifist constitution, Ishida added.
Otsuka graduated from the National Defense Academy and joined the SDF in 1983. He served in various positions such as Chief of Staff of the Maritime SDF Fleet Headquarters and Director of Intelligence at the Ministry of Defense, before retiring in 2019, according to the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun.
Back in 1978, former SDF member Nagayoshi Matsudaira served as shrine priest at the Yasukuni Shrine.
It was during Matsudaira's tenure that 14 Class-A war criminals were enshrined in the controversial shrine, local media reports said.
Local scholars pointed out that the appointment aims to completely deny the Tokyo Trials, while disregarding the sentiments of the Asian peoples who suffered Japanese aggression and sowing seeds of future discord.
The Yasukuni Shrine, located in central Tokyo, honors 14 convicted Class-A Japanese war criminals of World War II. It has long been a source of diplomatic disputes for Japan and its neighbors.
Visits and ritual offerings made by Japanese officials to the shrine have consistently sparked criticism and hurt the feelings of the peoples of China, South Korea and other countries brutalized by Japan during the wartime. ■
